The Tale of Two Sisters
by Rogue LeBeau12
Summary: Before the tragedy of the Salvatore brothers, there were the Petrova Sisters. Damon/OC
1. Chapter 1

The Tale of Two Sisters

CHAPTER 1

Mystic Falls- 1861

Faster and faster she ran, the coppery scent dragging her along. Her storm-cloud grey eyes darting side to side while her golden locks flew in the breeze behind her. Her feet passed over stones and twigs and the occasional severed limb. She finally heard the soft moaning of a fallen confederate soldier. She found him, bleeding out through his abdomen, and the scarlet spreading slowly over his grey uniform as he lay against a tree. She looked up at his face- he was young, about 21 she estimated. His hair, jet black was curly and still held the character of a boy, but his face held the image of a man. He had strong, fierce features and straight jaw line. He had the face of an angel. He had pale skin, which grew paler every second. His eyelids drooped but as he looked around she could see that his eyes were a startling light blue. They almost held a hue of silver within them and she became entranced by him.

"Shh, lie still please. You'll only make it worse." She pleaded softly with him. His moaning had increased and he had begun groping at the ground for his musket. "I won't hurt you. I promise." She touched his cool face and rubbed her thumb against his chin. He looked at her, eyes wide and he visibly began to relax. "Beautiful." He murmured as he began to pass into unconsciousness. She gave him a warm smile as she watched his eyes close.

She looked to her left and right to make sure that no one was looking as she scooped him into her arms fireman style. She focused on his heart beat and made sure it kept pace. "Where did u say you lived again?" Knowing very well he could not answer her eyebrows knit together as she read his thoughts. An image of a large white mansion flashed into her head and within minutes she arrived at the foot of the stairs. "A rich boy, eh?" She mused as she got to the front door and let his feet touch the ground and wound his arm around her shoulder to make it look as if she only helped him along. With her free hand, she knocked hard on the great oak door. A young boy answered the door. He was about 14- light brown hair, slightly tan skin and piercing jade green eyes. His nose was similar to the man she now had bleeding out on her shoulder. A brother, perhaps? His eyes widened with worry when he saw the injured soldier. "Damon." He said gasping. "I found him not too far from the road. He's been shot, but I think I can help him. May I please come in?" She said quickly. "Please- hurry in. Papa!" He shouted over his shoulder.

An older gentleman came out who held a resemblance of both boys. The father. "My boy!" He exclaimed and ushered them to the dining room. "Lay him upon the table, please!" She let the boy help 'Damon'. She turned to the house maids who had magically appeared out from the shadows. "I'll need some hot water, towels and bandages, please." They nodded and scurried off, appearing 5 minutes later with supplies. "Thank you."

She turned her attention to the wound. She ripped open the jacket and shirt to reveal a gash. She could see the bullet and announced what she was doing. "I can see the bullet. I'm going to pull it out. I'll need you to hold him down; he'll wake up as soon as I start." The boy rushed over to hold down his brother's arms. He looked at her signaling he was ready. She took a deep breath and gently stuck her fingers in the wound. Damon suddenly awoke and gave a great howl. His younger brother held him down and surprisingly he succeeded despite his brother's bigger size.

He was still squirming a bit, so she really had no choice. She stopped what she was doing and so she placed a slightly bloody hand on his feverish brow. "Shh, relax. You're going to be okay. I promise." In that instance, Damon seemed to listen to her and he took a deep breath and stopped moving. She quickly averted her attention to his wound. She gently surrounded the edge of the bullet with her fingers and slowly began to pull it out.

Soon there were bloody bandages all over the table. She had just finished wrapping the final strip across his abdomen. "There. He should be fine. I removed the bullet." She looked up at the father and son and gave them a small smile. The father let out a big sigh. "Thank you so much. I don't know how I could ever repay you!" "No please." She shook her head. "I can't take anything from you. I just wanted to help." "At least stay for dinner?" Her resolve weakened and she gave in.

An hour later, she found herself at their dinner table, finishing a plate. "Thank you so much, Giuseppe." She directed at the father. He had introduced himself and his sons. The younger boy was named Stephan and his older brother was Damon. They were the Salvatore family. They owned all the land around their house for their logging company. "Please Ms. Pierce, stay for the night?" Stephan asked politely. She had noticed in the time she was there how mature he acted. He also looked a bit older than 14. He had a strong jaw and broad shoulders. His green gaze was fixating and firm. He rarely smiled, but when he did, his whole face illuminated.

"Really should be on my way- I was supposed to be at my new house by now." "You can stay the night and be on your way in the morning, can't you?" Giuseppe asked. She gave a small sigh. "You both are too generous. I suppose one night won't hurt." Stephan let a big smile spread over his face; he seemed to glow with happiness. "May I please see Damon once more before I retire?" Giuseppe nodded. "Of course!" He signaled for one of the maids to guide her to the room.

Gwen entered into a large open room with big windows and large wooden furniture. On an enormous bed lay Damon. He looked quite weak and restless, as if he were in a nightmare. She got close to the bed and stroked his forehead gently. She smiled slightly because his nose twitched while she caressed him. Her smile then faded as she brought the inside of her wrist to her lips and bit down, exposing her blood. She brought it to his mouth, catching any drops that fell anywhere else. She pressed it against his lips and he subconsciously tried to spit it out, but she, being stronger than he, forced it down. In about 5 seconds, he calmed down and took it. She removed her wrist and as it healed she kissed his forehead. "Now you'll be safe." She got up and went into her room.

Damon's eyelids began to flutter as the light entered the window and reflected off the white walls. The room seemed to fill with a bright glowing light. He smiled as he fully opened his eyes. He could hear voices outside. Stephan's, his father's, the house maids, and someone else he couldn't identify. A woman's- young. She had a laughter that was expansive and infectious.

Stephan burst through his doors and exclaimed- "DAMON'S AWAKE!" He had a wide smile on his face and his eyes twinkled. More rapid footsteps followed and soon his father and the rest of the housemaids were at the door. In a matter of seconds they were surrounding him and fawning over him. "Guinevere will be delighted to meet you!" His father smiled. "Who's Guinevere?" "The girl who saved your life!"

His eyes flicked down to his abdomen which was covered in bloody bandages. His father unwrapped them to reveal his wound-free stomach. They all looked down at it with knitted together eyebrows. "What happened?" "You were shot, Damon. There was a bullet in your stomach." Stephan said clearly as confused as he. "Where is Guinevere?" The head housemaid, Mary chimed in. "She went out for a walk. I told her that Master Damon would be up later on in the afternoon."

"I'm here." A beautiful young woman entered the room. Her hair, an almost golden colour, cascaded down her shoulders, and the front was tied into a small braid. Her features were soft, yet her eyes were piercing silver. Her figure was curvy yet petite. She walked into the room with such a grace, Damon was sure she must have been part angel.

"May I?" She asked gently. As she came closer he could smell the sun filled air on her. He nodded, dumbfounded, still a bit stunned by her appearance. She placed a smooth, cool hand against his forehead. "His fever's broken." She said smiling. "What did you do?" Asked his father. "All I did was remove the bullet, clean up his wound, and sutured it." "His wound's completely healed. No scars!" Stephan explained. He removed his bandages and Guinevere's eyebrows knit together in confusion. Damon's eyes were fixated on Guinivere. She looked up at him and he couldn't move his eyes. She gave him a small smile which revealed the sweetest dimples he had ever seen. After looking him over for a while, she looked at his father and said plainly, "I don't see anything wrong with him." Giuseppe frowned a bit and sighed. "Well Damon, I believe that you have to be kept under house arrest." "But I-" Damon began to protest. "No buts. You're staying here." Damon let his head hit the pillow in defeat as he gave out a great huff of air.

Stephan started up again. "Well, Ms. Pierce could stay to help you, couldn't she?" Damon's eyes shot open and he looked up at the angelic beauty. Her silver orbs were wide as well. "I don't- I mean..." "Nonsense!" His father exclaimed. "You can stay with Damon and we will give you a bed to sleep in and food to eat!" Guinivere looked at the numerous faces in the room, first at Giuseppe, then Stephan, then to Mary and finally at Damon. They locked eyes instantly and for a moment the room was silent. A certain breath hung in the air, and Damon realized it was he that had ceased his breath. He calmly inhaled and braced himself for her 'no'. Instead she replied with a steady "Yes. I'd be delighted to stay and help you." She looked down at him and gave him that beautiful smile. 


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

A few weeks had passed by and Damon was becoming more and more entranced by his caretaker. He learned her name to be Guinevere Pierce, yet she liked to be called Gwen. She spoke French, Spanish, Greek, and Bulgarian. She was on her way to find work in Maryland when she had first found Damon. "I was trying to keep away from the gun shots, take the civilian path road. I was about to hit the main road out of town when I heard you." "What did you hear? I thought I was unconscious."

Gwen finished folding a pair of Damon's trousers. "You were murmuring. Shaking and crying a bit. I heard the branches moving about you. You were leaned up against a tree." Damon looked at her a bit confused. "How did you carry me back to the house? And how did you know where the house was?" Stefan came in. "Stop asking so many questions, brother! Be happy someone as pretty as Gwen found you." Damon relaxed a bit and Gwen looked down, smiling.

To change the subject, she got up from where she was sitting on the bed next to Damon and crossed the room to pour him a glass of water to drink. She handed it to him and sat next to Stefan on the bed across from Damon. "How do you feel today?" Gwen asked. Damon closed his eyes and tilted his head to the side. Gwen and Stefan looked at each other a bit confused.

"The same." Damon sighed and smiled mischievously. Stefan laughed and stood up. "Gwen, would you like to take a walk outside?" He offered his arm. "I would love to." She said, gathering her skirts and rising from the bed. They both looked at Damon and Gwen asked, "Would you like to come, Damon?"

The next thing he knew, they were walking, three in a row, the brothers on either side, arms interlocked through their expansive gardens. It belonged to their mother at one point, but she had died of Consumption when Stefan was eight. Every petal on every flower reminded Damon of her. His father had demanded he stay inside and rest, but Gwen somehow had managed to persuade him that a walk would do him some good.

They sat down in the grass and talked about the sunlight, books they had read and various other things. Then Damon started to ask questions. "Where were you born, Gwen?" She blinked and smiled gently. "Bulgaria. Why?"

"I'm just asking. How did you learn English?"

"I spent some time in England and I had a, um, a tutor, you could say." She smiled. "Why are you taking such an interest in this all of a sudden?"

He shook his head. "No reason. Just curious."

She smiled and looked down at her fingers in the grass. "You really want to know more?" Stefan suddenly took interest and inched in closer. "I was born in Sofia, Bulgaria. My parents were very wealthy, so my father would buy us meaningless trinkets in order to appease our need for him. My mother though, was an angel. She was raised on a farm, so she never saw the need for all of the things he would buy us. When I turned 4, my mother decided that I could have my own horse. I named her _Krasimira_. In Bulgarian it means "beautiful peace". I wasn't big enough to ride her but my parents let me take care of her. She died when I was 12, but I wasn't there to see her. I kind of got really, um, sick, you could say from the time I was about five and a half to when I was 17."

Damon and Stefan were silent. "Don't worry, I got better!" Gwen laughed. The two boys almost looked hurt she would laugh. "Did you have any brothers or sisters?" Stefan asked. "Yes actually. I had a little sister." Damon seemed to smile at the thought. "Her name was Katerina."

They spent quite some time in the grass and finally they decided to get back up because Damon felt like standing in the sun. As they reached the edge of the garden, Stefan stopped. He unlocked arms and walked a few feet ahead of him, digging in the underbrush and retrieving an almond shaped ball. "Teach me that game you told me about before you left, Damon. What was it called, Football?" Damon smirked as he saw the enthusiastic gleam in his younger brother's eyes. "Oh all right." He left Gwen's side and took the ball from his younger brother. Gwen took a seat on the stone bench between two rose bushes.

They began with small passes since Damon was supposed to take it slow. After a few minutes, they were all laughing. "Would you like to play, Gwen?" Stefan asked. "She can't, Stefan- it's not lady like." Gwen raised an eyebrow. "Ladylike?" She gathered her skirts and marched over to Damon. She put her hands out and he placed the ball in her hands. She walked backwards farther than where Damon was standing. "Go long Stefan." Both boys' eyebrows went up in astonishment. Stefan obeyed and backed up far enough.

Gwen readied herself and threw the ball. It flew straight, cutting into the air. Both boys' eyes followed its path in the sky. It hit its target and Stephan caught it, making a breathless noise as it hit him in the stomach. He jerked back a bit, the force almost knocking him off his feet. Damon let out a huff of air in astonishment.

Gwen let out a giggle and soon, the three of them were in hysterical laughter. As the laughter subsided, the bell for lunch rang in the distance. "Mary will have my head if you're out here for too long, Damon." She held her hand out towards him and he looked at it strangely. "What's wrong?" Gwen asked. "Nothing." Damon walked over and took her hand. He looked down at their interlocked fingers. Her hand felt cool and smooth. He yearned to see what she felt like if he were to hold her in his arms. He almost had to shake his head to clear his thoughts as Gwen repeated his name. "Damon?" She sounded worried. "Oh no. You must have been out too long. Or maybe it was too much excitement for you?" He shook his head slowly. "No, no. I'm fine. I promise. Just thinking." Gwen smirked and said, "Thinking requires too much. One must act in the moment and waste absolutely no time." "Are you a philosopher as well as a linguist?" Damon smiled back at her proud of his comeback. She rolled her eyes playfully and began walking back, toting Damon along behind her. 


End file.
